Lee,
If I may comment on this. The English word *image* is now
used in connection with cinema, computers, mirrors, politics etc.
It has more to do with appearance than reality.
In Heb 10:1 you can see that *image* => *reality*.
In earlier times the image (three dimensional corporeal figure)
in the temple was, to many, not just a visual aid but the real thing.
I take it that Col 1:15 says that Christ is the visible reality of the
(otherwise) invisible God.